PM: Won’t discontinue Delhi welfare schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said no existing public welfare scheme would be discontinued if the BJP was voted to power in Delhi.

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Addressing a rally in the Rohini area here, the PM said the ruling Aam Aadmi Party was “spreading fear” that the BJP would discontinue the welfare schemes introduced by the AAP government in Delhi.

“No public welfare scheme will be withdrawn... The BJP will ensure better implementation of the schemes by weeding out corruption,” he said.

The PM said if the BJP was voted to power in Delhi, it would also implement central schemes that had been stalled by the AAP government. “Central schemes such as Ujjwala are very popular among women,” Modi said.

“The AAP government has made every season, every weather, ‘AAPda kaal’for the people of Delhi. Delhiites spend all their energy in dealing with ‘AAPda’ (disaster) round the year,” Modi said repeating the term coined by him to describe AAP. Only if AAP is removed from Delhi, the double-engine of development and good governance will come,” he added.

Recalling the clean sweep made by the BJP in all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Modi said people of Delhi would vote for the BJP in the Assembly elections too. “This is a great opportunity to win the heart of Delhi and free it of ‘AAPda’,” he said.

The PM said the Centre had been developing highways in Delhi, expanding the Metro network, starting the Namo Bharat Regional Rapid Transit System, and running big hospitals and topnotch academic institutions.

On the other hand, the Delhi Government did not care about management of infrastructure, he said. “The moment one steps out of a Metro station, one encounters potholed roads and overflowing sewers. Some areas are such that even auto and cab drivers refuse to ply due to long traffic jams,” Modi said.

“In the past 10 years, Delhi has been having a state government that is no less than an ‘AAPda’”, Modi said.

Taking a dig at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal without naming him, the PM said when people of Delhi were reeling under the impact of Covid-19 and struggling to find oxygen and medicines, the ‘AAPda people’ were busy building their ‘Sheesh Mahal’.

Hitting back at the PM, Kejriwal alleged Modi devoted the majority of his speech to criticise the Delhi Government. Kejriwal said, “Today, the PM kept abusing the people of Delhi and the elected government of Delhi. I was listening to it, it felt bad. The PM made promise in 2020 — the people of Delhi ‘dehat’ are still waiting for it to be fulfilled.”

He also urged Modi to fulfil the promises made in the BJP’s election manifesto.